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The Journal of Neuroscience, November 15, 2002, 22(22):9668-9678

Properties of Unitary Granule CellPurkinje Cell Synapses in Adult Rat Cerebellar Slices

Philippe Isope and Boris Barbour

Neurobiology Laboratory, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 75230 Paris Cedex 05, France

The cerebellar cortex contains huge numbers of synapses between granule cells and Purkinje cells. These synapses are thought to be a major storage site for information required to execute coordinated movements. To obtain a quantitative description of this connection, we recorded unitary synaptic responses between granule cell and Purkinje cell pairs in adult rat cerebellar slices. Our results are consistent with parallel fiberPurkinje cell synapses having high release probabilities and modest paired pulse facilitation. However, a wide range of response amplitudes was observed. Indeed, we detected many fewer parallel fiber connections (7% of the granule cells that were screened) than expected (54%), leading us to suggest that up to 85% of parallel fiberPurkinje cell synapses do not generate detectable electrical responses. We also investigated the possible role of granule cell ascending axons by recording granule cells near the Purkinje cell. A high proportion (up to 50%) of local granule cells generated detectable synaptic responses. However, most of these connections were indistinguishable from parallel fiber connections, suggesting that powerful ascending axon connections are rare. The existence of many very weak synapses would provide a mechanism for Purkinje cells to extract information selectively from the mass provided by parallel fibers.

Key words: cerebellum; Purkinje cell; granule cell; synapse; glutamate; motor control

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Copyright © 2002 Society for Neuroscience  0270-6474/02/22229668-11$05.00/0

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